How to get the best deals on hotels
Whilst it’s
not only possible to get a great deal on hotels, you should consider
it your duty to make sure you get a good deal! However, there are a
few catches to be aware of:
- The best hotel promotions are unlikely to appear until much nearer your arrival date. Therefore, there’s absolutely no rush or need to book a hotel in the near future.
- The majority of hotels now charge a mandatory ‘Resort Fee’ of between $10-$20 per room, per night (plus 8% sales tax). Unfortunately, if you do stay in one of the hotels that demand a resort fee, there’s no way of getting around this ludicrous tax. The only benefits they provide are; free local calls, free WiFi access (unlikely to be hi-speed), free access to the gym and a free news paper.
- Regardless of where you stay, generally speaking the cost of hotel rooms will (at least) double in price over the weekend. Therefore, the same room costing $60 per night during the week can easily increase in price to over $160 per night when all the west coast American weekend visitors invade the city. Therefore, if you’re plan is to stay in two hotels over your trip, it may be advisable to offset costs by staying in the more expensive hotel during the week.
- As a general rule of thumb, you get what you pay for. Therefore, it’s critical to ensure that you’ve researched the hotels you’re considering staying at (Trip Advisor provides invaluable information) to weigh up whether or not you’re getting a good deal.
Just like
trying to book your flights to Vegas, booking your Vegas hotel can
prove to be something of an art-form as prices can fluctuate wildly
depending on many factors including day of the week, month, whether
there’s a major convention at the hotel, whether there’s a big
event on etc.
Once you have
decided on say, two or three hotels you would consider staying at, my
advice would be to begin monitoring prices on a daily basis. If
you’re not travelling for a few months then I would definitely
advise biding your time before you book, especially before you have
monitored the price for a few weeks to get a good appreciation of
what the current rates are. Of course, if you’re planning
something of a late trip then your options are limited somewhat,
however, don’t panic as there are still options open. In fact,
leaving your hotel booking to the last minute can result in you
getting a bargain as hotels would rather charge a lower rate and have
a customer for the night than having a spare unoccupied room.
I have
attempted to summarise my key bits of advice below:
- Use price comparison sites - price comparison sites provide an excellent single search facility across a number of recognised travel agents (Expedia, Opodo etc).
- Check the hotel’s direct rates - I have rarely found a hotel to offer much better rates than those found through third parties, however, booking directly with the hotel has the advantage that you only pay a one night deposit and you’re free to cancel your reservation and receive your full deposit back without penalty. This can be a great benefit if you see a direct rate you’re happy with, pay the deposit, and if you subsequently see a better offer, you’re free to cancel your original booking. If you are planning to follow this strategy you may also wish to follow the hotel on Twitter and Facebook as you may find some further offers promoted through there.
- Check prices frequently if not daily - once you have a good understanding of what rates a given hotel is charging, you’ll be able to see when the price drops and you’re getting a bargain!
- Book and don’t look back - once you’re happy that you’ve found a good deal, don’t hesitate, book it! But then once booked, don’t check back on the prices (unless you've reserved a room directly with the hotel)
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